Amid flak from the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) that his Davos tour was a ‘splurge trip’, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde early Wednesday left for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, promising to bring even more investments for the State than last year. CM Shinde stated that the WEF would be a platform to showcase Maharashtra’s potential as the preferred destination for global investments.
Speaking at Mumbai airport early morning prior to his departure, Mr. Shinde said that the summit was a great opportunity for Maharashtra to brand itself in an international forum.
“The summit is a big opportunity for Maharashtra to brand and showcase itself in an international forum. During my previous visit at the WEF in Davos in 2023, we had signed MoUs worth ₹1,37,000 crores of which there was a 76% conversion and with the execution of those projects. This time, we hope more MoUs will be signed and their execution will also be done on a large scale. The investments will boost industrial growth not just in the big cities but make deep inroads into rural Maharashtra as well, while generating massive employment,” Mr. Shinde said.
Mr. Shinde is leading a ten-member team, including Industries Minister Uday Samant, to the 54th annual WEF meeting at Davos from January 15 to 19.
In a veiled jibe at the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government, Mr. Shinde said that Maharashtra had re-emerged as the leader in foreign direct investment in 2022-23 once his government had taken power.
“During the MVA tenure, the State’s ranking in FDI had slipped to third and fourth. But there has been a huge improvement after our government came to power in June 2022. In a short span of one-and-a-half years, we have regained the number one position in FDI,” he claimed.
Stating that his government has set a target of making Maharashtra a $1 trillion economy, Mr. Shinde said investors were ready to come to Maharashtra owing to its huge potential.
“There is infrastructure, connectivity, and skilled manpower. The industry policy in Maharashtra is very flexible,” the CM said.
Responding to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray’s criticisms that the Davos visit was akin to a ‘junket’, Mr. Shinde said the Opposition had nothing constructive to say but merely criticise for the sake of it.
Earlier this week, Mr. Thackeray had questioned why Mr. Shinde “needed 50 people in his delegation” while alleging that some of the delegates were even taking their children to the Davos summit, turning it into a junket.
He also claimed that the Shinde-led delegation had spent a staggering ₹40 crore during the 2023 Davos trip despite the CM being there for barely 28 hours.
Along with Mr. Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) MP Supriya Sule, too, criticised Mr. Shinde’s Davos visit claiming that several crores being spent while the plight of farmers and aanganwadi workers in the State was being ignored.
“This [Davos visit] is public loot… On the one hand, farmers not getting their minimum support prices, aanganwadi workers are not getting their wages while crores of rupees are being wasted for a trip to Davos. This is extremely unfortunate,” she said.
Replying to Mr. Thackeray’s charges, the Chief Minister’s Office had clarified that Mr. Shinde was just taking a delegation of 10 people which included Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant.
Meanwhile, Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction spokesman Naresh Mhaske lashed out at Aaditya Thackeray, calling him an “immature youth” who spoke in a puerile manner.
“Why did Aaditya Thackeray go to Davos [in 2022]. He was the Tourism Minister, not the State Industries Minister. The shameful part was that he went there when his father, [ex-CM] Uddhav Thackeray was undergoing a critical operation. While we Shiv Sainiks cancelled our party programmes, he went there with his friends to play in the snow,” Mr. Mhaske alleged.
